Jacob: Is He The Most Morally Ambiguous Character In The Bible?
Read on…
Like all lapsed Christians here and elsewhere, I read too many bible stories growing up and imbibed what it was these stories were trying to get across.
From the guy (Samson)who got done by having a relationship with a woman from the enemy tribe to the man (Abel)who killed his brother in a fit of rage and jealousy, there was more than enough in the holy book to teach us about the wicked world in which we live.
But there was one that I was most intrigued by.
His name?
Jacob
Why?
Here was a guy who was as Machiavellian as it got.
Our protagonist was wily enough to get his twin brother to sell his birthright over a bowl of soup and when their father’s mortality was near, he actively collaborated with his mother to ensure that he got the blessing which was meant to be for Esau, his older twin.
Given the God’s obsession with morality, you would be forgiven for expecting the man in the sky to be utterly ruthless in punishing the errant Jacob?
Nope.
Instead the younger twin son of Isaac and Rebecca went head to head with God and more than proved his mettle in a wrestling match.